Agricultural Affect on Our Streams

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Agricultural Affect on Our Streams

• Liz Lauer
• Devon Fore
• Melanie Bias

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What is agriculture?

• Agriculture is the practice of cultivating the
  land and raising live stock, both of which affect
  the watershed.

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What is watershed?

• Watershed is the entire geographical area drained
  by a river and its tributaries.

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How do they affect each other?

• Watershed and agriculture affect each other
  greatly. The health of a watershed can be
  dependent on agriculture.
• The chemical levels of a watershed can be raised
  or lowered because of agriculture. The animals on
  the farm can affect watershed so can how often
  the land is harvested and whether or not the farm
  has a riparian buffer and is keeping it in good
  healthy shape

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How do they affect each other cont.

• The chemical levels of a watershed can be raised
  or lowered because of agriculture. The animals on
  the farm can affect watershed so can how often
  the land is harvested and whether or not the farm
  has a riparian buffer and is keeping it in good
  healthy shape.

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Manure Management

• Manure run-off in streams can affect the clarity
  of the water.
• Pathogens-can make water unsafe to drink
• Manure soup can cause Algae Blooms
• Affect the underwater habitat for fish and MBIs
• Can cause illnesses in animals

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Manure Management Cont

• Contamination of the water plants can occur
• E. Coli can be found in the water
• Cryptosporidium is a single celled organism that
  is found in manure that may end up in the water

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Manure Management Cont.

• To help the amount of run-off farmers are taking
  to a plan of how much nutrients their giving
  their livestock.
• To reduce the amount of phosphorus in the manure
  farmers are changing the supplements in the feed

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Pollution

• Everyday activities can generate pollutants.
  Examples besides agriculture are construction
  sites, septic systems and roadways.
• Sediments, oils, salt organic matter, pesticides,
  and fertilizers ( from the stores and even cows)
  can run off into nearby rivers or streams.

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Pollution

• The biological balance of the watershed can be
  negatively affected by these pollutants. It can
  cause cloudy water, weed growth, and increases in
  algae.

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How to help solve this pollutant problem.

• The term Riparian Buffer is used to describe
  lands adjacent to streams where vegetation is
  strongly influenced by the presence of water.
• Agriculture can lead to a large amount of run
  off, which is why a riparian buffer can help keep
  a stream healthy.
• They help prevent harmful sediments from manure (
  E Coli) that the cows can produce.

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How to help solve this pollution problem cont.

• Besides the cows fertilizers, and the run off
  being a problem for our watersheds there is also
  a problem with farms destroying things that keep
  the rivers safe.
• When farmers expand land the can take away
  natural buffers that are very important to the
  farm.

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How to solve the pollution problem cont.

• Farming can use up a good part of the watersheds
  and the areas around its nutrients. The soil is
  important and over faming can be harmful to the
  land and streams.
• Another way to help maintain healthy streams are
  contour farming.

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How to solve the pollution problem cont.

• Contour farming is the practice of preparing
  land, planting crops, and cultivating them on a
  level or nearly level contour around a slope.
• By practicing this type of farming you can cut
  run of harmful chemicals by 50 .
• Agriculture is a big part of West Virginia, it
  affects everything from watershed to development.

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• Mill Creek Data
• Temperature 5.5 Celsius
• pH 7.5
• Conductivity 680 us
• Dissolved Oxygen 10 ppm
• Nitrate/Nitrite 0 ppm
• Alkalinity 275 ppm
• Turbidity 0 JTU
• Bacteria (Fecal/E-coli) na/na
• Phosphate 1 ppm
• Phosphates, DO , and bacteria levels are affected
  by cemeteries and agriculture.

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• Physical Conditions
• Water Level normal
• Water clarity clear
• Water color none
• Water odor none
• Sediment odor na
• Stream bed color brown
• Surface foam slight
• Algae color light green/ brown
• Algae abundance moderate
• Algae texture even coating
• The algae hasnt been affected by the cemeteries
  at all.

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Cemeteries

• Before and in the early 1920s the deceased were
  buried in wooden caskets. In the late 1900s they
  started to bury people in metal caskets.
• The coffins that were made of wood would slowly
  start to decay. And the bodies are leaking
  phosphates out into the ground.
• When they leak the phosphates it goes into the
  groundwater and causes algal blooms.

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Cemeteries

• The kind of algae that comes from the leaking
  phosphates is fast growing and blue green.
• The blue green algae is not nutricous for the BMI
  and out-competes and replaces green algae and
  diatoms which are better food sources for the BMI
  and fish.

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• When the dark blue algae covers the surface it
  makes it impossible for the sunlight to get
  through to the plants on the bottom and then they
  die. If the plants die fish lose their source of
  food and shelter.

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Cemeteries

• Another problem that arises is the blue green
  algae becomes so numerous that it eventually dies
  and sinks to the bottom of the river. Bacteria
  decomposes the algae at the bottom of the river
  and takes the oxygen out of the water. Which is
  bad for the all of the aquatic animals and the DO
  levels.

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Cemeteries cont

• Cemeteries and agriculture can effect a river
  greatly it eventually along with over use of a
  river can lead to eutrophication.
• Eutrophication is the natural process that occurs
  in an aging lake or pond. It can build up the
  nutrients in a lake to much.

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Pictures

• This picture is Gerrardstown Presbyterian Church
  Graveyard.

This is a picture of a older cemetery .
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This is an older cemetery where erosion has taken
place.
This is the Mill Creek River
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This is Mill Creek River watersheds where we
planted trees.
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This picture is of a cemetery on Sulphur Springs
Road, Cedar Grove Cemetery.
The second picture is on Sulphur Springs road.
The farm is Sulphur Springs Stables.
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This is an satellite view of MHS and the
surrounding areas, including some of the farm
areas. The picture also includes Jefferson
Security Bank and Other housing developments.
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My World Information

• Area computed km2 62,854.2358
• Name West Virginia
• FIPS 54
• Farms17,237
• Average Farm (acre) 196
• Total Cropland (acre)1,285,786
• Sales per farm 15,701
• Population (humans) 1,808,344

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Conclusion

• As a group we were assigned to find out how
  agriculture and cemeteries affect watershed in
  our local areas such as Mill Creek and Opequon
  streams. Agriculture can have a big affect on all
  watersheds. Farmers can over farm their land
  which takes valuable nutrients out of the land
  that the streams need. To solve this problem
  farmers can spread out their harvesting or farm
  on hills. Another problem that farms can present
  is the chemicals that they use to kill weeds.
  these chemicals can get into run off and to the
  streams. Also cows on farms can spread diseases
  through their manure like E Coli. The nitrate,
  dissolved oxygen, and phosphate levels can be
  greatly affected by this. Another thing that
  isnt often thought of that affects watershed and
  rivers chemical levels are cemeteries. Bodies
  used to be buried in wood caskets.

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• In older cemeteries bodies start to decompose and
  phosphates from the caskets seep into the ground
  water and into rivers. Older and bigger farms
  often have their own private cemeteries and the
  streams can have higher phosphate levels then
  public streams. Our Mill Creek and Opequen
  streams dont seem to be greatly affected by
  agriculture and cemeteries but streams on farms
  and near older cemeteries are more at risk.

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Bibliography

• Cloern, J.E. 2001 Our evolving conceptual model
  of the coastal eutrophication problem Marine
  Ecology Process Series v. 210
• Marylin Gouge http//www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/wv
  berkel/cemetery.html Berkely County West Virginia
  Cemetery List updated 2010
• No author listed http//www.sciencebuzz.org
  Phosphorous in the River 2008
• Connie Reeves, Chad Behrendt, Crystal Floyd
  http//www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbrief
  s/p443wooddecay.html Plant Pathology 2009
• http//northmoutain.org/pictures March 28, 2010
• Google Maps- Saint Leo the Great Cemetery 2109
  Sulphur Springs Road, Ranson West Virginia,
  Sulphur Springs Stable, and Cedar Gove Cemetery.